Monday, 12 August 2013

Had a lot of different stuff going on in my life since my
last proper blog post, so this post will be fairly cram packed but informative.
As always I've been doing a lot of twitching, but only because there has been
lots of fantastic birds I needed for the UK turning up.

May

An incredibly eventful month for me in terms of birds, I
managed to see my first Thrush
Nightingale and then on the next day my fist ever Lesser Grey Shrike. The rest of the month was generally packed
full of superb Red-backed Shrikes, 2
Great White Egrets, and a spring Red-breasted Flycatcher. The latter
bird being quite a surprise indeed.

(Thrush Nightingale - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Lesser Grey Shrike - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

June

This month kicked off with more stunning Red-backed Shrikes followed by a Pacific Swift in Suffolk. The slim and tapering wings of this
scaly beauty were enough to make the species exciting and thrilling. Watching
it dart backward and forward over the Suffolk
marsh was incredibly exciting. Only days later saw me back down south to Notts
to connect with the singing Melodious
Warbler which generally showed well, hours later I was watching my first
ever Rose-coloured Starling in Norfolk,
on the way home I popped into a pond in North Yorkshire to look at an eclipse
drake Ring-necked Duck. Not the most
exciting bird I had ever seen I must confess. The end of June and a dream came
true, I finally saw the greatest bird in the world; White-throated Needletail. Although the bird came to a very sorry
end it performed well whilst alive for those of us who make the trek north and west
to see it. The month ended for me with a drake Surf Scoter from Filey Brigg in North
Yorkshire.

July

This month is usually either very exciting or very boring
(in my personal experience), it was generally boring for birds apart from the
fact that on the 1st I was watching a stunning adult Bridled Tern on the Farnes. I saw this
bird three times, including once at Saltholme. In the middle of the month I had
an afternoon dodge down to Rutland Water where I connected with a superb summer
plumage Pacific Golden Plover. The
month ended with a Pectoral Sandpiper
at Saltholme followed by a Spotted
Sandpiper the next day at Alnmouth in Northumberland. Spotted Sandpiper was a species I had always wanted to see in the
summer time; thankfully this one was spotty enough to satisfy my keenness to
see the species in a spotty condition.

(Bridled Tern - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Bridled Tern - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Pacific Golden Plover - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Pacific Golden Plover - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Spotted Sandpiper - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

August

So far August has been most kind; I started it
off with a Spotted Crake in
Northumberland one fine evening. The very next day I was watching a Night Heron in Leicestershire then
thanks to a mate (who looks out for me all the time) I was alerted to the
presence of a Two-barred Crossbill
in Lancashire and so called in on the way
home. The crossbill played ball and I had excellent views. On Friday gone I was
fortunate enough to see the 2nd summer Caspian Gull (one of my favourite birds) and then the very next day
I managed to re-find the Bonaparte’s
Gull in the same field after it had left the steel. So
all in all I would say I’ve had a pretty fantastic few birding months.